World Water Week

Date: September 1 – 6, 2013Location: Stockholm, Sweden

World Water Week is hosted and organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and takes place each year in Stockholm. The World Water Week has been the annual focal point for the globe's water issues since 1991.

Join us for the following WSP and World Bank convened sessions in Stockholm:

Sunday, September 1

Side Event: Making Evidence Count in the WASH Sector
Convenor(s): London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine / SHARE Research Consortium
Co-convenor(s): Delhi School of Economics; Research Institute for Compassionate Economics and Water and Sanitation Program (WSP)
12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Room K24

In the WASH sector the question often asked is “what works”. In more recent years, more attention has been given to tools such as systematic reviews or randomized controlled trials to answer this question. The evidence base for WASH though is complex and offers few simple answers for those facing tough decisions in challenging settings. We need more research but we also need to do better in using the research we have. Many operational agencies in the WASH sector are now working with research organisations to evaluate different WASH technologies and approaches.

In this session we will consider some of these attempts to strengthen the evidence base as well as attempts to strengthen research uptake. Representatives from leading academic institutions and operational agencies in the WASH sector will share their insights and experience as to what research matters and how we can make that research count.

The session will examine the importance and role of stakeholder involvement to ensure sustainable WASH outcomes. It is well-recognized within the sector that the sustainability of water and sanitation systems is often a challenge, and many organisations and governments are addressing this issue in different ways.

The session will provide concrete examples and review current thinking on sustainability, and discuss the existing stakeholders’ cooperation framework used in different countries to address the sustainability of WASH services. UNICEF country offices and partners will present examples that have resulted in better and more sustainable service delivery to the poor. UNICEF partners in different countries including NGOs, local authorities, Governments, donors and other UN agencies will share their views and provide insights towards developing a roadmap for national sustainability frameworks for WASH services. Latest thinking on sustainable services drawn from the conclusions of the March 2013 sustainability forum held in Washington DC will be presented.

Post-2015 debates on water are intensive. A consensus is emerging that a possible water goal should encompass targets covering access to drinking-water, sanitation, hygiene, wastewater and water resource management. On-going consultation among stakeholders is focused on options for the next generation of targets and indicators. However, consensus on targets and options for measurable indicators has not yet been reached - with great differences between the subsectors. At the same time, concrete targets, indicators and data availability is where political and technical aspects of the post-2015 debate will need to meet.

The seminar will present the status of the debate. The recent publication of the Report of the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda has proposed a goal to achieve universal access to water and sanitation. The report reflects that the next steps require greater cooperation among stakeholders to fairly allocate and protect water resources and to fulfil the basic human right to water and sanitation.

The Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals has also discussed water and sanitation in one of its first sessions. The seminar discusses actions needed to define measurable indicators and build a monitoring framework to set the right political incentives. It also seeks to examine the most important aspects and the questions related to cooperation to ensure links between national and global target setting and monitoring, but also interlink with other sectors, such as energy, food security and health, and applying the Nexus perspective.

Workshop: Cooperation for Sustainable Benefits and Financing of Water Programmes
Convenor(s): Stockholm International Water Institute
Co-convenor(s): Agencia Nacional de Aguas, Brazil; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Bank
9:00am - 12:30pm and 2:00pm - 5:30pm
Room K16/17

This workshop will address mechanisms to support sustainable implementation and operation of water programmes. Challenges related to risk sharing, trust building and managing uncertainty in costs and other parameters will be debated. Questions will be raised such as:

•Why is cooperation an integral part of financing? Who needs to cooperate and for what? What are the constraints and can they be overcome?
•Who should pay: the users (which are not always easy to identify), tax payers (eventually reluctant to raising taxes), or voluntary financiers (who might require return with low risk)? What is a fair allocation of financial burden?
•How do we ensure well-functioning programmes in the long run? What is the role of political will and discretion?

Once thought of as “gap fillers” for public service, today, domestic private water providers continue to grow in numbers and are being mainstreamed in government policy as part of the long-term solution to universal and equitable access. A new study by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program and International Finance Corporation—to be launched at this event—estimates that in the 3 study-countries alone (Bangladesh, Benin and Cambodia), by 2025 over 20 million people will get their water from piped systems operated by domestic private providers—10 times the current number.

The rise in small-scale water providers provides tremendous opportunities for delivering value to the poor in water services. But governments are also faced with the challenge of managing a highly fragmented water industry, with a multitude of providers in rural areas, small towns, and peri-urban contexts.

This session brings experts on the topic of public and domestic private partnerships to discuss market trends; opportunities to forge partnerships among water supply chain actors to deliver value to the poor; and lessons in developing policies that align public sector goals with those of small-scale water providers and customers. We will explore the role of public and domestic private sector partnerships, as well as business-to-business partnerships among commercial financial institutions, private firms offering business and technical support and ICT services, and the local private water industry.

Please join us for two 90-minute sessions with short presentations and plenary discussions:

Governments and a Fragmented Water Industry: How Partnerships Can Offer Value to Poor Customers
2:05pm - 03:30pm

Governments, domestic private firms and customers have mutual, but distinct interests. This session focuses on the delicate—but critical—balancing of interests between these different stakeholders. The session will explore the nature of these interests and lessons on how partnerships can be forged through the regulatory environment and aided by ICT tools to create a climate where domestic private providers will be incentivized to invest in services to the poor.

Improving Service Delivery through Partnerships along a Fragmented Value Chain
3:50pm - 5:25pm

It takes an industry, not just a firm, to supply the poor with better value. This session focuses on facilitating partnerships along the value chain including better contract PPPs, business development support and financial services in the water supply industry.

Since 2006, the AWF has supported a diversity of TWRM activities on the African continent by funding projects promoting advocacy, legislative and strategic frameworks, as well as cooperation and partnerships.

The AWF has also participated in the preparation of investment programs designed to secure much needed investments for the effective implementation of transboundary water infrastructure projects. Its extensive experience has helped identify solutions to common challenges faced by riparian states, and better understand issues such as legal and institutional hurdles hindering the successful use and management of shared water resources.

The session objectives and expected outcomes are:

Engaging with the panel and the audience, the event proposes to showcase and discuss successful approaches and models based on the AWF experience and that of others

To exchange views on possible solutions to remaining challenges for more effective pragmatic sharing of trans-boundary water resources.

Seminar:Partnerships for Financing Sanitation Services in Poor Urban Communities
Convenor(s): Water and Sanitation Program
Co-convenor(s): KfW Development Bank and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor
9:00am - 12:30pm
Room K22/23

•Initiatives for using economic evidence to select cost effective pro-poor sanitation options on the basis of financing and welfare impacts, comparative intervention efficiency, benefit-cost ratios etc. Many stakeholders and beneficiaries are involved, and economic evidence can provide a basis for cooperation in policy development, resource allocation, financing, MandE and mutual accountability.
•Evidence and views on the realpolitik of poor inclusive sanitation finance, recognizing investors’ concern for the viability of financing infrastructure for the poor, and entry points for commercially sound citywide sanitation planning and service provision for poor people.
•Partnerships in faecal sludge management (FSM) from a review of FSM in 12 city case studies, drawing global and local conclusions, assessing demand for services; roles of stakeholders and potential for cost recovery and reuse of treated wastes.

Seminar: Changing Relationships: ICT to Improve Water Governance (Watch Live Stream Video)
Convenor(s): IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre
Co-convenor(s): Akvo Foundation; Rural Water Supply Network; UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI; Water and Sanitation for Africa; Water and Sanitation Program; Water For People; Water Integrity Network and WaterAid
9:00am - 12:30pm
Room B7

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become increasingly pervasive in recent years across all sectors. In the water sector, the innovation of numerous low cost applications embracing the use of mobile phones, social media sites, e-learning platforms, user-friendly cameras and geo-referencing maps, has changed the way water is governed and increased transparency in the sector.

ICT is quickly changing relationships between stakeholders, facilitating the measurement and monitoring of interventions and enabling practitioners at a local level to use evidence to guide decision making and corrective actions. Despite this promising outlook, several challenges exist to use the full potential of ICT. Is there sufficient knowledge to apply the new technologies effectively? What has worked and how? Who has access to the information and are incentives in place for using information to improve services? What are the associated costs? And are we being diverted by the allure of emerging technologies from the real issues of data integrity and the improvement of services?

Seminar: Aid Effectiveness in WASH Relief to Development Transition
Convenor(s): German WASH Network and Sanitation and Water for All
Co-convenor(s): Federal Foreign Office, Germany; Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, Germany and United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
9:00am - 12:30pm
Room B8

The transition from relief to development provides unique opportunities for promoting government leadership in the WASH sector, reforming service delivery institutions, aligning aid and building on service delivery capacity provided by NGOs during relief. Countries that seize these opportunities can increase their resilience to external shocks. This seminar discusses current barriers and possible actions toward smoother relief-to-development-transitions in the WASH sector - from the perspectives of governments, donors and NGOs.

The seminar begins with a presentation on relief and development and also examines the transition required from one to the other in light of changing aid architecture and current aid effectiveness issues facing the WASH sector. Case study examples from Liberia and Myanmar highlight challenges, milestones and key aspects in linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD), including donor policies, useful funding instruments and NGO initiatives to improve collaboration with governments. Participants will engage in table discussions facilitated by sector experts for developing a list of strategic actions to ensure that aid supports key components of the transition from relief to development. A panel sums up the results and paints the way forward.

Seminar: Transboundary Governance for Resilience and Development
Convenor(s): International Union for Conservation of Nature; Nile Basin Initiative; United Nations Development Programme and World Bank
1:00pm - 4:15pm
Room K21

The development of adaptive forms of governance and innovative, adaptation strategies and activities to increase resilience of communities and economies is fundamental for improving water governance at all levels. Strengthening planning, legal and management frameworks for adaptive water management, and creating or reinforcing institutional structures at all levels and building linkages among those levels and across sectors is instrumental in forming appropriate responses to the aforementioned challenges. In moving transboundary cooperative processes forward a long-term perspective is imperative. A process-oriented perspective is this warranted.

This session will take an interactive approach and draw on participants’ expertise to assess the governance challenges and opportunities facing the water sector at the local, national and transboundary levels in implementing effective adaptation to climate change as well as equitable and sustainable utilization of freshwater. In addition, it will draw upon case studies from countries and basins in different geographic regions to highlight innovative practices and lessons from around the world.

Seminar: Water Scarcity and Risk Mapping Using Geo and Satellite Data
Convenor(s): National Aeronautics and Space Administration and World Resources Institute
Co-convenor(s): Pacific Institute; Shell Oil; Skoll Global Threats Fund; University of California-Irvine; US Water Partnership and World Bank
2:00pm - 5:30pm
Room K2

This session will highlight the use of advanced technologies including satellite and geo data to improve water availability mapping for a target audience of water managers, policy makers and companies.

The session will summarize the possible uses of innovative spatial data to help tackle global water challenges to the local scale. The session combines the advanced technologies using NASA and geo satellite data along with water risk mapping using World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Aqueduct tool.

The NASA portion will describe its free and open exchange of satellite data especially useful for developing countries. Satellites provide synoptic and timely spatial data to address water issues from water availability, including of transboundary and the monitoring of floods and droughts. The NASA sub-session will focus on case studies and partnering with public and private groups in Asia and Africa.

WRI will showcase global water risk maps using the best publicly available data and modelling techniques and how maps are used to prioritize investment and engage private and public sectors. Aqueduct’s water risk information is available at a global scale to help organizations evaluate exposure to water risk across operations, supply chains, and regional landscapes.